“I thought we had a better day yesterday. I thought that guys were sharper in what they were doing and picking things up and getting around. The offensive had a lot more enthusiasm yesterday. We still have a lot of things to get better on. Again, get the pads on for the first time and getting used to those things. I’m sure it will continue to get better each and every day.”

On Evan Mulrooney:

“Nothing concrete. He’s in the hospital, but nothing more than what I said yesterday.”

On Levern Jacobs’ absence from full team drills:

“Head coach’s decision. He’ll be out there probably on Saturday doing things. He and the head coach had an understanding on what was happening. He’ll be out doing things full speed on Saturday.”

On Spencer Myers:

“I see a guy that’s got high energy. He’s got a really good motor. He’s relentless and chases the ball. He plays with good leverage. We’ll work to get him some reps with the two’s this weekend in the scrimmage to go up against those guys. I’ve been pleased with him so far.”

On if he’s surprised by Spencer Myers:

“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised because anytime you get involved with someone who has a passion and a want to, to do something, you are going to get pretty good results. He’s talented. He understands competition. He understands leverage. He’s played the game before and he was very successful at it. I think playing that position he’s playing and what he does from a wrestling standpoint. It’s a pretty good relationship between the two.”

On Albert Reid:

“Albert’s another one of those guys who gives you everything he’s got all the time. He’s a guy that’s got a smile on his face. He competes hard. All the qualities you look for in a student athlete he embraces and he embodies. I just love the way the guy competes. He’s tough. He’s hard-nosed. He’s a team guy. He’s one of the guys on our leadership council. You know this; every day you come out here, you’re going to get his best effort and he’s going to do everything he can to not only make himself better but to push other guys to make them better.”

On the running back competition:

“You’re not going to keep four guys happy. That isn’t going to happen. They’ve already been told they’ll be two guys that will be there. Fourth and fifth guy, they’re going to have to make their name on special teams. They know exactly what they have and its great competition out here. We’ve got to get it to two and then there’s a third. That’s all you can have up to practice. The other guys have got to go down and make their niche. They can get on special teams and play anywhere from 20-to-28 plays a game. They know exactly what it is. All of them are doing a great job. You can see that there’s competition. They’re hungry. They want it. But we aren’t keeping four guys happy. There’s going to be primarily two guys, but if we can have one guy, that’s what we want and then a guy who spells that guy You have a third guy that’s going to get minimal reps during the week, but he’ll be ready to go. That’s how we plan to go.”

On the opportunity for Juwann Winfree and other receivers after Nigel Kings’ departure:

“I think it’s an opportunity for everybody. All of a sudden Amba’s [Etta-Tawo] got a little bit more. Even Taivon [Jacobs] and Juwann, all those guys. Again, we try to train these guys where you don’t necessary have to be an X or a Z because we’re trying to get the best three on the field. Sometimes Stef [Diggs] could be a Z or an X. We’re trying to find the best guys that we can. We’ll get a chance to see more of him when we get going. He’s done a good job so far, but again it’s too early to say too much about that until we see him go through the scrimmage on Sunday.”

On Jeremiah Johnson:

“I’m just happy for him to back out here playing at the level he’s been playing at because it’s been over a year. I thought he was a little rusty the first two practices just getting back used to everything because he’s been away from it for a year. He’s a guy that we know can play and play at a high level. It’s good to have him out here and hopefully he can stay out here and get better. He’s competing with Alvin and Will because you can go left or right with either of those guys. Those guys understand that they can play either side. You are going to get the best guys out there you can.”

On Cole Farrand:

“Cole’s a guy that is making all the calls on defense. Getting all the things to everybody else and making the calls and making the checks. He should be and he is playing at a faster level because of his experience and playing in the games. He’s another guy that he’s worrying about another guy or his intensity or his toughness. After last year when you take a look what he played through and did the things that he did, he has the utmost respect of the coaches and the players. It’s good to have a guy who’s played as much as he have and as a senior, it’s hard to believe he’s a senior, it’s gone by so quick, but I’m glad he’s in there. He really helps to hold things together for us.”

On NCAA autonomy ruling for power five conferences:

“How it’ll change us in terms of how we operate we won’t know until legislation is put through and what type of legislation they want to adopt and go with. I think it’s good that we have that. I think its one step closer to the five conferences splitting off. I really do. Again, I think they’re bigger issues now that you have that in terms of who’s going to take charge of what’s best for football. You have this autonomy, but what’re we going to do with that to get the colligate model to get to where it should be or back to where it was in terms of, to me, stop recruiting these kids so early and lets focus and concentrate on the kids that we have on campus. I think that’s what we got away from with recruiting these kids too early. Hopefully we can get back to that with these things and then also give the student athletes the things that they deserve. That’s my whole thing. I want to do anything we can do to enhance their experience and to help them and I think that’s probably the biggest thing from the autonomy standpoint. I think what happens is now the five conferences that have more means than the other conferences can do some things they can do. So again I think this is just going to be another step closer to leading to some separation in terms of some of the division.”

On what he thinks student athletes deserve:

“I’m all in favor of the cost of attendance that they’re talking about. I’m in favor of having the guys on scholarship for four years. I think what’s happened with the scholarship is I think people are telling to remove them from their programs and move them on if they’re not good enough. I think the same thing from a health issue, what they’ve proposed there is all good. I still think we have to sit down and take a look of what is for the betterment of the game when it comes to recruiting and some of the other things that are out there with what is going on.’